What an amazing experience to get so close and personal with such a beautiful creature.

Still, maybe you should have just sat on the ground and filmed without putting it through the stress of having to be on alert while trying to dine on it's catch. It allowed you the opportunity. Did you really have to push it?

My mom lives in the woods and gets a lot of wildlife. She puts food out for birds, deer, and squirrels everyday. Now she has noticed that a lot of hawks hang out in her yard. It's a buffet for everyone.

About fifteen years ago when we lived in San Clemente, one evening when we sat down to dinner I noticed in the tree outside our dining room window a red tailed hawk just sitting down to his dinner. I say tree, but it was barely more than a bush, and the hawk was no more than five feet off the ground. He was also no more than six feet from us, but I guess having the glass pane between him and us gave him justification to ignore my family and me. As we disemboweled and ate our spaghetti and meatballs, he disemboweled and ate his ground squirrel. It was a transcendent and amazing meal for us, if not for him.

The prey is a groundhog (or woodchuck, if you prefer) which explains why it is being eaten on the ground. It's too heavy to carry away.

It is definitely not any kind of weasel or mustelidae. A true weasel is quite small and would be no problem for a Red-tail to overwhelm and carry up to a safe perch or nest. However, weasels are also mainly nocturnal so they seldom fall victim to hawks, large owls like the Great horned take them occasionally. There are several other members of the weasel clan in Wisconsin: the badger (of course), the pine marten (rare), the wolverine (not likely in the Madison area, and definitely not in a suburban area anywhere), the Northern river otter, and the Black-footed ferret (extremely rare, extinct throughout most of its former range) The prey shown in the video is too large for a Back-footed ferret. The badger, marten, otter and wolverine are too dangerous for a mere Red-tailed hawk to tackle.

The size and the blackish tail are the tell, it's a woodchuck. Delicious. No wonder the hawk is reluctant to let Meade steal it.

Last summer I was reading in a park near home when I heard a commotion. When I looked up there was an adult Light-Morph Red Tail Hawk digging for worms and being attacked by about six Red Wing Blackbirds.

I grabbed my camera and crept close enough to fire off a few frames before the hawk flew away. Some of the photos are at this link: Light-Morph Red Tailed Hawk

Lighten up, people. I wouldn't have walked right up to the bird while it was eating, but it's not like Meade went out of his way to harass the winged beastie. The hawk will be fine. He lives in a world red in tooth and claw, a camera and some curiousity aren't gonna bother him much.

It didn't occur to me that I was harassing the bird but I see that now. So thanks to those who pointed that out. I was fascinated that he seemed to be allowing me to get as close as I got. After the video clip ends, I walked away and saw him return to what I think was a road-killed weasel. I really don't think I caused him to go hungry that day but I appreciate being educated to the need for keeping my distance in the future. And I will.

Last year I ran into a wounded redtail that was the age to just start flying. I didn't know how much human aggression they have so I didn't pick it up and instead went home for helpers and equipment. By the time I got back, someone, I suspect the transit cops, had already grabbed it. If I had known they are so tolerant of humans I would have just picked it up and driven it to the vet.

Agree with the posters that advise to back the fuck off & let the bird eat.Killing your food & eating ALL OF it is a non-trivial enterprise & shouldn't be dicked with for a blog post.I have $50 to contribute for a nice tele-lens.Seriously.

The hawk's prey as shown in the stills presented along with the trout lily photos is unquestionably a type of weasel. Its too large to be an ermine, more likely a mink. It's too small to be a fisher or an otter, though I'm not sure of anything other than that it is from the weasel family and not a gopher.

Out of my dining room window I once saw a hawk swoop down on a woodpecker. At almost the same moment, a cat crept up from behind and couldn't believe his eyes. As the cat approached the two birds, the poor woodpecker realized he did not stand a chance. Ripped apart by either talons or claws, what did it matter? The hawk saw the cat approaching and flew away, leaving the woodpecker on the ground. This distracted the cat who hestitated just a moment too long; the woodpecker saw his opportunity and took off as well, leaving a dumbfounded cat in midpounce going WTF?